Judge: Video games 'not a defense' for parents' murder
- January 13, 2009 08:00 AM PST
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Halo 3 addiction doesn't explain or excuse Daniel Petric's shooting both his parents, says an Ohio judge.
Daniel Petric in an Ohio courtroom for shooting his parents
More specifically, video game addiction, which was never medically established during the trial, did not make Petric any less responsible for murdering his mother and wounding his father, according to the judge.
Petric is the teenager who shot both his parents after they took his copy of Halo 3 away in September 2007. Petric -- 16 at the time -- snuck out of the house through his bedroom window to buy the Xbox 360 game Halo 3 after his father forbade him to. He was caught returning home, the game was taken from him, and placed in a lockbox in his parents' closet that also housed a 9mm handgun.
A month later, Petric secured entry to the lockbox, took the game as well as the gun, and -- after asking his parents to "close [their] eyes" because he had "a surprise for [them]," shot them both, killing his mother and wounding his father. As his father lay wounded, Petric tried to slip the gun into his father's hand. He fled the scene after his sister and her husband arrived, taking the game with him.
Petric's lawyers insisted that the boys age and "video game addiction" made him less responsible, the insinuation being that Halo 3, a sci-fi shooter in which players battle hostile aliens, exerted an inexorable grip on Petric's ability to restrain himself from committing the incredibly heinous acts.
Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge's response? That's not a defense, and furthermore, there's evidence Petric "plotted the crime for weeks."
Next up: Sentencing, which carries a maximum of life in prison without parole.
Source: PC World
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- Jan 13 2009 at 08:30:59:AM PST
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Well at least we have some case law supporting the argument that "video games are not addiction". In any event, let us analyze this case carefully for a minute. As a defense attorney for the defendant, I probably would have also argued "video game addiction" as grounds for lack of intent to either get my client free or lower the sentencing (worst case scenario). However, claiming this (as his lawyer did) could have set some negative precedent for gamers everywhere. Imagine what would have happened if the Court had recognized video game addiction as a valid mental illness. The consequences could have been dire everywhere. I urge you to study this and internalize its effect carefully before responding.
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clearly this child needs his ass whooped. I mean a rational person wouldn't raise a finger to hurt their mother. So whatever prison he goes to , may the horde raise up in his a$$
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Finally an intelligent and wise judge. Morons with guns kill people nor video games. weak ass defense using videogames as a scapegoat.
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You will never hold another video game controller in your hands for as long as you live.
Nice job Bozo.
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His obsessions speaks more about mental health issues than it does the effects of video games. There must be more to this story for them to use video games as cause. Hopefully he will get help, so that he can understand his crimes.
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Btw, I can't believe gamepro has a an advertisement for Halo 3 to the left of this story. lol that is sick.
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weinymew wrote:
c'mon, you mean his mother didnt respawn in another part of the house?
That's such a dumb thing to say. The way your dressed it looks like your house could take a driveby any minute so I wouldn't talk retard.
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It not video games. But he have mental problumes. And he need to be lock up in a crainaley insane looney bin.
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